An injured woman is helped away from the
wreckage in Manchester city centre, after an IRA bomb exploded
in the city's main shopping area in June 1996
(PA/EMPICS)
Why do people use terror?
Some terrorist groups believe they’re fighting to liberate a
country – take the Basque group ETA or the IRA in Ireland. Even
some political groups think like this. In Italy in the 1970s,
the Red Brigades believed they were leading a guerrilla war against
capitalism. In 1978 they killed Aldo Moro, the leader of one of
the main political parties, but the group fell apart soon afterwards.
Some groups fight for political rights. Nelson Mandela got life
imprisonment in 1964 for a bombing campaign by the African National
Congress. Under apartheid, black South Africans were excluded
from politics, and Mandela believed that violence was the only
option left. He kept the faith. In 1985, he was offered early
release on condition that he renounced armed struggle. Mandela
refused, and he was only released when the apartheid system fell
in 1990.
Then there are groups who just want to create terror. It’s a
kind of blackmail. The idea is to put society into such a panic
that they can ask for whatever they want. The trouble is, if the
government cracks down it can make the panic worse. According
to one British diplomat, George Bush is the ‘best recruiting sergeant
ever for al-Qaeda’. |
